Caslin: Change wetlands
Regional chairman’s letter obtained by Postmedia tells premier if MNR doesn’t alter wetland designation, Thundering Waters project is in jeopardy
Regional Chairman Alan Caslin is working to pressure the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry in a bid to save a Chinese firm’s $1.5-billion Niagara Falls development.
Postmedia has obtained a letter written by Caslin to Premier Kathleen Wynne in late January, claiming that if the ministry doesn’t change the designation of a provincially significant wetland located in the heart of the development the project is in jeopardy.
“In-process evaluations and mapping by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry has caused uncertainty about the proponent’s ability to proceed with the Thundering Waters development project,” Caslin wrote in a move that was not publicly announced.
“Should this mapping decision remain, the substantial initial investment, subsequent job creation and local growth opportunities will be lost,” he wrote.
The Chinese firm GR Investments announced in November 2015 that it had acquired the land — 193.6 hectares of property west of Marineland and adjacent to Thundering Waters Golf Club — and plans to build a mixed-use development that includes residential, commercial, retail and entertainment components on 80 hectares.
When the development was announced, Niagara Falls Mayor Jim Diodati said it had the potential to be the biggest Chinese investment in Canadian history.
Caslin wrote that the collapse of the project would also likely end efforts to bring a branch of the Bank of China to Niagara Falls, which would “complement the Thundering Waters project and the international visitors that would frequent the development.”
The wetlands, which are in the middle of an important part of the development, and which are provincially protected, are the sticking point.
Should this mapping decision remain, the substantial initial investment, subsequent job creation and local growth opportunities will be lost.” Regional Chairman Alan Caslin
“You can’t say I’m not sensitive to the environment,” Caslin said when asked about the letter Thursday afternoon.
“I am very sensitive to the environment.
“As a percentage of wetlands to be considered, it is a small amount, but at the same time they are spread in a way that makes it hard to develop, particularly with setbacks that are required with wetlands.
“Writing the letter is consistent with what council asks me to do on a daily basis. I am the full-time employee of the Region representing my council, and executing their strategic plan.”
Emily Kirk, a spokesperson with the ministry, has reiterated that provincial policy states “development and site alteration shall not be permitted in significant wetlands in Ecoregions 5E, 6E and 7E.”
Niagara Region is in Ecoregion 7E.
Ministry staff made a site visit in September 2016 at the request of the municipality to assess the additional wetland areas in the environmental impact study, Kirk said. The ministry had last evaluated the site in 2014.
The ministry’s re-evaluation found another 18 hectares of newly identified wetland area. These were subsequently added to the protected wetland area, and increased the total area to about 95.5 hectares.
Caslin’s letter to the premier said the ministry’s policy to protect the wetlands conflicts with another set of provincial policies that encourage economic growth.
“Through Ontario’s Places to Grow planning vision, Ontario has designated a strategic investment corridor within Niagara as a Gateway Economic Zone, which regional council has worked hard to implement by way of progressive policies and development incentives,” Caslin wrote. “Unfortunately, recent provincial policies are having significant, but likely unintended, consequences that are jeopardizing the success we have had to date with the gateway.”
Caslin’s letter asked Wynne and her cabinet colleagues to consider resolving the ongoing policy conflict between the provincially designated Gateway Economic Zone and the ministry’s wetlands evaluation and mapping.
“I don’t want to imply that we will take those opportunities at any cost,” Caslin said in an interview. “We need our developers to respect our environment and do things responsibly. That is what we are going to insist they do. That said, there is modern science that says there are other ways we can do things.”
The original Niagara Peninsula Conservation Authority suggestion was to “move” the wetland through a process called biodiversity offsetting, or building and establishing a replacement wetland somewhere else in Niagara.
The idea enraged environmentalists and was never approved by the ministry.
The ministry went on to state biodiversity offsetting isn’t consistent with the provincial policy “and that there is currently no legislative basis for biodiversity offsetting in Ontario.”